Marshall Auerback calls for government to be employer of last resort
Roosevelt Institute Braintruster and ND20 blogger Marshall Auerback talks to BNN (Canada’s Business News Network) as part of their “Blogger’s Panel”. Auerback discusses government job creation, Goldman Sachs, and a possible second stimulus package in the U.S.
Auerback: “The idea is that the government would stand ready to offer a guaranteed job at a living wage with a series of health benefits…in order to employ anyone who wants to work…My contention is, when you have an army of unemployed — long-term unemployed in particular — you have a lot social pathologies which develop. It’s far more productive for private businesses to be able to draw on a stock of employed labor and this way you not only help to create full employment, but you also help to create the buffer stock of employed labor that can be readily deployed by the private sector when it comes back….”